You Are Games:
Letters In Boxes #24
This week's Letters In Boxes challenge is like the office elevator. You see it at the end of the hallway, and the doors are opening. Nobody likes to wait for an elevator going up, so you bolt for the door. That lady from accounting and that guy with the mail room step in ahead of you, and the elevator is filling up fast. Just as the door starts to close, you leap through the door, smooshing yourself between the guy from PR and the custodian. It's cramped and uncomfortable, but it doesn't matter, because you've managed to stuff yourself into the elevator going down.
And that's when you realize you wanted to go up to the 26th floor.
Elevator action aside, this week your goal is to cram those letters into those boxes to find the magic words that could make you a winner. Rather than the usual rule of one letter per box, this week's boxes can be stuffed with clusters of one, two, or three letters. To start playing, click on your first puzzle below to open it up in a new window. When you've found an answer, go to your browser's address bar and replace the image filename (in this case, "24shoppingdays") with your answer. If you're correct, you'll be jamming your way through to the next puzzle. If you're wrong, you'll get wedged in place with an error message, but you can always back up and try again.
This batch of puzzles contains four puzzles to solve. On the fourth puzzle, you'll find the email address for sending your final answer. We'll hand out a prize to the first correct entry we receive, plus one additional randomly-selected correct entry. Please include your Casual Gameplay account display name with your entry. You must be at least 13 years of age to enter. Only one submission per participant, please. Offer void where prohibited. Your deadline for submitting your answers is Monday, December 5th at 11:59 PM (GMT-5:00). The squeeze play is on, so get going!
Update: Congratulations to the following winners! :D
Both winners were given a choice of prizes. Congratulations and thanks for playing with us! Look for another Letters in Boxes again soon!
- Darvan ...First!
- jamedkan
For the first puzzle, I can read the message, but I'm still working out what it means.
on puzzle #1 there is
a message within the obvious message. You just have to know what to focus on and what to ignore.
Hmm, I even went back to puzzle number one and I cannot seem to find any instructions on how you are supposed to unscramble these letters.
Do you read up, down, diagonal?
Can you move letters around following some set of rules???
Is it some sort of cypher?
Are there no rules and it is any of the above to get some readable message out???
OK, so it is just like normal reading. the hard part is figuring out the word puzzle, not reading it?
Got one
Got two
Now on three... I thought it was a great puzzle, challenging but made sense. Came up with a perfectly logical sentence giving me a clear answer...
But my answer doesn't work!
Anyone on 3 with a hint for what I've got wrong?
sentence I've found is "use ______ to access the next puzzle". Couldn't be any clearer!
Okay, I was wrong - I got one, and it's TWO that I'm stuck on. Brain fart!
@wisnoskij, if I understand your question, the answer is Yes the hard part is figuring out the word puzzle.
Now I'm stuck on #2. Specifically,
when I rotate pieces, do the letters reverse? For example, would XT ST with P below the XT become ST XT with P still below the XT? Or would the top line now read TS TX? And what if we rotate by 90 degrees?
[When the pieces are rotated, the letter clusters stay in their relative positions, but the order of the letters within each cluster does not change. XT will always stay XT, even if the piece is turned upside down. —Steve]
I am missing the hidden clue within the clue on #1? anything to do with teeth?
Hint for #1:
As usual, ignore the obvious "message". Separate the squares into groups based on what they have in common. One of the groups will give you the answer.
That's all I'm gonna say.
@sunney444, not unless you plan on chewing on it.
Steve, are you sure number two isn't broken? I'm so sure my answer is right, but it's not taking me to three.
Thank you for that answer, Steve! That narrows things down a bit. Of course, I'm still stuck...
Fixed. Try it now. (I blame the beta testers.)
Oh, Bless you Steve for the fix on number 2!
Yay! Thanks, Steve - I'm not crazy!
Uh-oh. Number three is evil!
Got 3, but stuck on 4
Not sure how the left answers transfer to the right ones...
I'm in the same boat that Graderade is.
I thought that the numbers on the left side indicated the order in which the blocks would be placed on the right side, but that doesn't seem to work from what I've tried so far.
@Jade, I think I figured it out, but I don't know enough of the words to see if it works
I think that the entire left side corresponds to the right, not just the individual lines
@Graderade,
Does that mean that the numbers correspond to the right line, not the block on the same row? I'm still bemused about how there is no 4 given, if that's the case.
I also think that there's some scrambling done within the blocks, given that the obvious answer for the 3rd word on the left ends in ET-TE. I know the answer for the 4th word on the right (provided that it really does start with a G), but I haven't been able to to link that with any other word on the left. Hmm.
Does anyone have a hint for #3? I'm completely lost!
I assume I have to fill in the gaps in the third puzzle, yet I have no clue how.. Could use a hint!
Does it matter that english is not my first language?
@Graner:
1, 2, 3, and 4 are the same every time. You have to give them the correct letters to make something sensible out of every row. I started out by determining what 3 was most likely to be from the bottom row on the left, if that helps.
Whoops, sorry for misspelling your name, grander. >.
And @wuppie, it shouldn't matter. There are no complicated words at work here in this puzzle.
Thanks, Jade!
@Jade
The groups of letters stay the same, but they can go into any place on the right block. I'm not able to get the 4th word on the right to fit in either. Other than that, I have every other word. The 4th and 5th on the right have many options though.
@Jade, sorry, I meant left when I said right the last time
Question regarding #2
Do we use all of the pieces/spaces?
Thanks, Graner! Got it thanks to you.
@ray9na
No, there's only room for 5. And think about the configuration, because there's only one way they'll fit. Baileydonk had a great hint up above.
@Ray9na,
One piece will be left unused at the end if you do everything correctly.
@Graderade,
Are you saying that each number is the same from row to row, just like in the third puzzle? If so, then the first and third words on the left have to be anagrams of each other, but the word I have in mind for the third left row doesn't work.
@ray9na, as I recall, the answer to your question is
no.
@Jade,
I'm saying that the individual clusters of letters will not be broken up. They can then get placed in any place on the right side. If your word for the 3rd on the left ends in -ette, then that one works. I still can't seem to find the right words for the 4th and 5th on the left to match the 4th word on the right. I'm almost positive of the 4th on the right though.
Thanks, guys. I was on the right track after all with #2. I just needed to keep following it. :)
I guess the key question for #3 is
Are the variables single letters? Multiple letters? Some the one, some the other?
Flash of insight. I think I answered my own question.
Hmmm...still can't make all of the letters fall into place for the last one. Anyone actually get it to work out?
Ooh! I haven't solved #4, but I think I've cracked the first step.
It's similar to #1.
I still can't get the last puzzle to work out. Can we blame the beta testers again?
@brian.j.sanders, That's what I'm thinking too. I've been trying for way too long on the last one. There just don't seem to be other words that could work.
At least I'm not the only one who's still stuck on the final puzzle. :/ I've been following your advice, Graderade, and found some patterns, but I still can't get the letter combinations I have to work for all rows.
For the last puzzle.
Solve the left side of the puzzle,take the cluster of letters and use those clusters to form answers on the right side.
If it isn't working out then you may have some words wrong. This happened to me and I ended up working backwards from letters i knew i had to have
Yeah, OK. Finally got it. I think.
this is where I could really use a check on my final solution. I have a word (just barely), but I had to change the fifth word on the left to something that isn't really accurate.
I'm with zoz on #4.
I'm pretty sure I have the right side, because it all makes sense and it all fits. But
I'm only able to fill in rows 1, 2, and 3 and 3/4 of row 4 on the left, even though I know what row 4 ought to be.
@ray9na
I was exactly where you are, but I know what the 4th word on the right is supposed to be, and there's a word that fits into the 5th slot on the left that gives the right letters for that word. Only that way, I can't spell out the third word on the right side. I want to share the words I've found, but I'm not sure if that's okay!
I'm pretty sure I've got the left side filled in, but I'm having a devil of a time with the right.
I've got "shareware," "cinnamon," and "green" from what I've put in on the left, but I can't make heads or tails of the letters I've got left.
@ryusui
whoa whoa whoa. (you blew my mind). you can have more than 4 letters per line? I was working off the idea that i can only have on the left or right. Now I'm super confused. your answers make so much sense but I guess I'm lost on the words on the left. Theres no way i can get cinnamon from the words on the left. green i can make work...
@grander
I discovered another word that fits #5 on the right and helps me get #4 on the left. And that gives me the answer! Thank you!
I'm in the same boat on the last one as a lot of others seem to be. Hopefully nobody will mine if we corroborate a little:
On the left-hand side, I have (capital letters are ones I don't use yet in the right-hand side):
1. harmonica
2. sPAnner
3. cigareTTE
4. renew ED
5. DETest
From these, on the right hand side, I get:
1. shareware
2. cinnamon
3. nicest
4. gre__er (I'm assuming it should be greener, but I don't have a "EN" piece)
5. ???????
So I'm left with "PA", "TTE", "ED", "D", and "ET", but am missing a "EN" piece for "greener".
I guess I need to change either "renewed" or "detest", but the other tiles I get from those words are so useful!
@sunney444:
The number in each box corresponds to how many letters are in each box. For instance, "mouth harp" is HARMONICA, which breaks up as HAR MON IC A.
I'm including my answers to part of the 4th puzzle, so don't read if you don't want to see what I came up with.
@ryusui
I actually got shareware, cinnamon and greener, though if I change the last word on the left from lament to detest, I can get nicest in the third spot on the right but I lose the en for greener. My words on the left are harmonica, spanner, cigarette, renewed, and lament.
I think I'm done thinking about this one for today!
After a quick break, I finally got the last one.
The only word I changed from my original answers was the 5th on the left
Hope that helps!
@grander:
I'm in the same boat. I can't figure out any option for the fifth word ("loathe" or "detest") that would give me both "nicest" and "greener" (or at least "green") on the right.
since we're sharing our words here, for the fifth word on the left I had to go with
"resent" to get the en for "greener."
Just be warned that I have my doubts as to whether this is right, because it doesn't really fit the clue. And the solution I derived from all this is pretty weird.
@zoz
Actually, if you look up resent at thesaurus.com, the second entry lists abhor as a synonym. But I have no idea what kind of word to make with the leftovers!
@grander, think of
someone who just can't shut up!
@zoz -- I had included some of the wrong letters. I think I got it now! Thanks. :D
Just a quick note to those who have already submitted an answer: You were all correct! Feel free to give hints with confidence! :D
Done for this week! #4 was actually not that hard for me - I had the most trouble with the third one.
Hintish poem-thing for #4:
SPACING
Rettenn, I char
rewes in a
termone dare
@Steve, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks for easing my little zoz-mind.
For #3, I am not getting it. Does anybody have any hints? Thanks.
whoopee!I am so happy that I solved the first puzzle in this letters-in-boxes game. ^_^
@twheels
Jade gave me a really great hint in the comments above, and I figured it out almost immediately afterwards. I'll just copy it here in case you didn't see it:
1, 2, 3, and 4 are the same every time. You have to give them the correct letters to make something sensible out of every row. I started out by determining what 3 was most likely to be from the bottom row on the left, if that helps.
My additional hint:
You'll come up with individual words in the main part of the puzzle, but they don't string together to give the answer. What you're really solving for is what the letters are in 1,2,3,and 4. When put together, like in the boxes at the very top, they'll form the answer.
Hint for #3
Each line is one word -- and it's just a collection of words, they don't form a sentence. The numbers stand in for the same thing each time, so once you figure out what a number represents in one word, you can apply it to all other instances. Strictly speaking, you don't need to solve all of the words to get the numbers, but they are a good check.
Once I got my head around #1's trick, the rest fell like dominoes. Still, love these puzzles.
bubblecamera -
I find your "hintish poem-thing" drawing me in like another letters in boxes puzzle. I may not sleep until I figure out what the heck it means. And I say this having found the answer to puzzle 4.
@baileydonk:
The title of my poem thing is a clue in two ways.
If you made it the first line of the poem, the hint would still make sense. However, it also makes sense as the title because... Well, I'll leave you to ponder over that.
Also, it's a lot easier to figure out what the poem means once you've solved the puzzle.
Hope that helps!
number 3 grrrr
More hints re: #3
The bottom word on the left is an adjective, not a plural noun.
IF the bottom word on the left were a plural noun, which it is not, you could [word directly above it] it. Additionally, it would make me feel [top word on the right].
As others have said,
Once you have [1], [2], [3], and [4], string them together as [1][2][3][4] and that should give you the answer.
Pack it up, pack it in, here are the answers you need to win!
Puzzle 1
Puzzle 1 Answer
For this first puzzle, the key was to look at only the clusters of two letters. These spell out CHEESEBURGER.
Puzzle 2
Puzzle 2 Answer
In the second puzzle, you needed to put five of the six L-shapes into the grid to reveal a message. There's only one way to fit five Ls into the grid. When the correct pieces are in place, you find USE MARKER TO ACCESS THE NEXT PUZZLE.
Puzzle 3
Puzzle 3 Answer
For the third puzzle, the numbers 1 through 4 each represented a different cluster, that when plugged into the grid below, spelled out other words. The answer to this puzzle was HARNESS (HA/R/NE/SS).
Puzzle 4
Puzzle 4 Answer
For the final puzzle, all of the clusters made by the words on the left side of the screen could be shuffled to form the words on the right side of the screen. The greyed numbers in parentheses told how many letters were in each cluster. After five clues on the left and four clues on the right were solved, the remaining four clusters could be shuffled to spell PATTERED, this week's final answer.
Winners will be announced soon!
Steve,
I disagree with your solution to #4. It just doesn't work.
I submit R - ES - EN - T as last line on left side. (which is a really bad synonym for abhor) but it works if you break up pattered into PA - TTE - R - ED.
No wonder these puzzles are so hard if no one checks the answers.
[Sorry, this is what I get for trying to write up the answers from memory. This'll be fixed shortly. —Steve]
No wonder nobody got my poem thing -- the second line should have read "Rewes en a" instead of "Rewes in a."
But anyway, the trick was:
Look at the columns on the second half of #4
S CI N G PA
HAR NN IC RE TTE
EW A ES EN R
ARE MON T ER ED
They can be rearranged to get
S PA CI N G
RE TTE NN IC HAR
R EW ES EN A
T ER MON ED ARE.
I chose to make "SPACING" the title because you had to alter the spacing to get the blocks.
Update